Today’s show is mostly an announcement of our new plan to do a show every other week, rather than weekly. We discuss a few reasons why we decided to test out this new schedule. It should actually be good for both the quality of the show as well as our personal lives.

With Doug feeling mostly better for nearly 4 and a half months now, he’s starting to think beyond the day-to-day challenges and looking more toward his future. We will still meet every week like we normally did to record the show, but now one week will be more about hanging as friends, playing music, and working on future goals. This will also give us the opportunity to potentially improve the show quality by having more time to lineup guests, flesh out facts, or get a little deeper on some subjects.

Toward the end of the show, we included a clip of our pre-show conversation where we discussed some interesting things about anxiety, public speaking, and stagefright. Nothing too detailed, but we figured it was interesting enough to add to this episode and maybe plant a seed for a future, more in depth discussion.

It’s Halloween, which brings us to our special episode on FEAR. What scares us, and why? We talk about the horror movies that scared us growing up, and why we enjoy them. What is it about a good horror movie that gets our hearts racing? Why do we enjoy being scared? There’s science behind that and we talk about some of the theories.

Besides scary movies, we also discuss other fears of ours, including heights, speed, public speaking, insects, and more. Through the study of fear, scientists can now identify what areas in the brain are responsible, hopefully leading to more accurate and successful treatments of anxiety.

We all have fears. Sometimes they might seem irrational, but we know what scares us. Some fears are debilitating, and some can be fun. Our brains decide that for us, but with more research, we can hope to one day be able to reliably control the volume knob of our anxieties.

This episode was recorded on September 10th, 2017, also known as the 15th Annual World Suicide Prevention Day. This year’s theme is “Take a minute, change a life.” We discuss what this means and just how being there to listen to someone who is crying for help can quite literally save their life.

Doug also discusses how his use of Adderall, and how the use of most mood drugs, can cause the body to deplete itself of key nutrients. Supplements such as CoQ10, magnesium, and some fatty acids like Omega-3’s, can greatly benefit anyone who is on mood stabilizers. Unfortunately, these tend to be a bit expensive, and becomes difficult for anyone who’s on disability to afford.

Speaking of income, to help Doug’s financial situation, we have started to work on building a voice acting portfolio for Doug to start helping himself. I have always believed in Doug’s talent, not only musically, but in his unique voice characterizations. He can do accents, read narrations, and has great comedic timing. His only problem is that his brain makes it very difficult for him to put together a cohesive plan to get things done. His lack of confidence in making decisions holds him back. After discussing it with him, we plan to work together to tackle this project in baby steps that I help define. One step at a time, we will get there, and he will succeed!

Please note: There will be no podcast this week, as I am celebrating a birthday on Tuesday, Ed is still settling into his new Colorado spread, and most importantly, we need the week to work on some technical issues, to get back to the level of production quality that we’re used to and insist on. Thank you for your support & patience.

Hello, Unhinged listeners. I know it’s been awhile since we’ve communicated, and even longer since we’ve put out a show. Lots of things have been keeping us from being able to get back into the swing of things.

First and foremost, Doug is still suffering from severe depression and anxiety ever since his DBS battery started dying and needed to be changed. Unfortunately, even after the battery was replaced, his remission has not kicked back in. His doctors are experimenting with different settings and intensities to see if it starts working again. In the meantime, I can only offer words of hope and encouragement to Doug as he struggles to regain a sense of normalcy.

Secondly, all this has been happening during my move out of the San Francisco Bay Area. After 21 years of living in California’s Silicon Valley, my wife and I have decided to move to Loveland, Colorado. Though I still love everything that Silicon Valley stands for, and have many friends there, we felt that it was the right time to leave. The Bay Area has been getting steadily more congested as more people move there, and continues to get more expensive. The time was right to sell our house and move somewhere that has more seasons, less traffic, and is more affordable. It also happens to be much closer to my employer in Golden, Colorado, which is another positive.

The move is complete but we’re still living out of boxes. I’m also waiting for a new desk to be delivered so I can set up my recording studio in preparation for our next show.

Thank you all for being so patient with us as Doug recovers and we get things back in order. We will be back as soon as we can. It’s just taking us a bit longer than expected. Thanks for understanding!

Originally, this episode was going to be focused on music and how specific songs affect our moods and emotions. Unfortunately, the battery in Doug’s DBS is running down and this has affected his mood. Since we want to give this music topic the attention and justice it deserves, we decided to postpone that topic until after Doug’s battery is replaced and he’s back in a more positive mood.

In this short episode, we talk about the DBS battery, how Doug checks it, how it’s replaced, and ultimately how important that little piece of tech is for any DBS patient. As it stands, Doug is trying to get an appointment for the surgery as soon as he can, but the doctor that does it is out until the 20th of March, so he might have to wait up to of 3 weeks. We’re hoping the trickle charge lasts until then so he doesn’t fully relapse. Fingers crossed!

We start this episode with the announcement that Doug’s current remission has now surpassed his 3-month record. Not only has this remission lasted the longest so far, but it is also the highest quality remission he has had yet! Looks like the DBS is in the zone, working its magic.

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, however, as he has to now learn how to process emotions in the context of a “normal-acting” brain, something he has very little experience doing. One thing that has stuck around is his anxiety. Besides a general anxiety that creeps in every now and then, there is the looming spectre of human interaction, which can trigger Doug’s social anxiety. We talk about how he’s handling his day-to-day anxiety, and what coping tools have helped him.

Continuing the topic of anxiety, we touch on the differences between worry and anxiety. Can worry turn into anxiety that needs treatment?

Show resources:

This slightly shorter episode starts with us talking about an old, fairly obscure 80’s comedy movie, Rude Awakening. Find out why that movie is important to us, and how we came to discover it. We also talk about Ed’s mild travel anxiety as multiple trips are coming up, and how he handles it. He also talks about being a bit self-conscious, and how he’s doing on his new year’s resolution.

We then revisit the topic of baby steps that we’ve talked about on other episodes. Doug explains how childhood trauma, like bullying, can lead to PTSD-like symptoms, and being self-aware is the key to getting better. Taking baby steps through stressful events can get you there with less anxiety.

Doug’s current remission seems to be the highest quality remission he has experienced in a long time. Now that the neurology is working better, he has the ability to work on psychological issues. Working in peer support is a great step to help socialize and validate purpose. Working to better himself can go a long way now that he has the tools and support to do so. Hope is all around!

This episode begins with some discussion over technology and socialization. Do today’s modern habits of burying ourselves in our tech devices isolate us from being social? Is social networking helping us become more or less connected with other humans? We both take slightly different sides on this issue.

Doug’s current month-long remission from any depressive symptoms has him working hard. He talks about becoming more self-aware and how he now has to learn how to control his anxiety as he socializes more and more in real life. It’s a good problem to have.

This leads us to the topic of productive vs. unproductive worry. Worrying about things that are out of your control is unproductive, but when you can remove an obstacle that you CAN control, this is called “productive worry”. We give some examples and talk about how this is a good tool to have in your mental health arsenal.

In our final show of 2016, we begin with a quick recap of the past year’s episodes, covering how Doug’s mood has fluctuated throughout. Luckily, we’re ending the year on a high note with Doug feeling some relief and successfully starting on his new path as a peer support worker.

We then move on to discussing the holiday season and all its trials for those who suffer. There are many triggers this time of year that can lead to worsening depression and anxiety. We list several and offer up some possible coping mechanisms for each. From rearranging your furniture, to avoiding crowds, we provide some easy to follow suggestions that can help alleviate the holiday stress.

It’s all about avoiding the negative, embracing the positive, and changing routines.

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Unhinged: Talking Mental

We will attempt to publish one audio podcast episode per week. Each episode is roughly around 30-40 minutes in length and published as an mp3 file on this site and on other podcast sources (iTunes, Google Play, etc.)